• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.189-198
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• 2015

Objectives : Sparganii Rhizoma is frequently used in traditional herbal medicine for treatment of blood stasis, amenorrhea and functional dyspepsia and has been reported to exhibit anti-oxidant, anti-proliferation and anti-angiogenesis peoperties. In this study, we investigated the cytoprotective effect and underlying mechanism of Sparganii Rhizoma water extract (SRE) against oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in hepatocyte. Methods : To determine the effects of SRE on oxidative stress, we induced synergistic cytotoxicity by co-treatment of arachidonic acid (AA) and iron in the HepG2 cell, a human derived hepatocyte cell line. Results : Treatment of SRE increased relative cell viability and altered the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins such as Bcl-xL, Bcl-2 and procaspase-3. And SRE also inhibited the mitochondrial dysfunction and excessive reactive oxygen species production induced by AA+iron. In addition, SRE activated of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a potential target for cytoprotection, by increasing the phosphorylation of AMPKα at Thr-172. Morever, SRE increased phosphorylation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, a direct downstream target of AMPK. Conclusion : These results indicated that SRE has the ability to protect against oxidative stress-induced hepatocyte damage, which may be mediated with AMPK pathway.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.537-546
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• 2015

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious disease of pigs caused by CSF virus (CSFV). E2 is the major viral envelope protein of immune dominance that induces neutralizing antibodies and confers protection against CSFV infection. The B/C domains of E2 are variable among CSFV isolates, which could affect immunogenicity and binding to antibodies. We attempted to characterize the epitope recognized by a monoclonal antibody 2B6 (mAb-2B6) raised against the E2 B/C domains of the vaccine C-strain and to examine if mutations in the epitope region would affect antibody binding and viral neutralization. The epitope specific for mAb-2B6 recognition is linear, spanning five residues ⁷⁷⁴DGXNP⁷⁷⁸ in the B/C domains. The residue N777 is indispensable for the specificity. The epitope exists only in group 1 strains, but not in those of group 2. The recombinant viruses containing individual mutations on the epitope region lost the reactivity to mAb-2B6. The mutant virus RecC-N777S had low replication potential, about 10-fold decrease in the yield of progeny virus particles, whereas the mutant virus RecC-P778A reverted to proline upon continuous passaging. The mutations on the mAb-2B6 epitope region did not affect neutralization by anti-C-strain polyclonal sera from pigs. Deletion from aa774 covering the mAb-2B6 epitope, but not that from aa781, also affected binding with the polyclonal antibodies from vaccinated pigs, although the major binding region for the vaccinated antibodies is aa690-773.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.911-920
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• 2006

Phenolic antioxidant butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a commonly used food preservative with broad biological activities, including protection against chemical-induced carcinogenesis, acute toxicity of chemicals, modulation of macromolecule synthesis and immune response, induction of phase II detoxifying enzymes, as well as its undesirable potential tumor-promoting activities. Understanding the molecular basis underlying these diverse biological actions of BHA is thus of great importance. Here we studied the pharmacokinetics, activation of signaling kinases and induction of phase II/III drug metabolizing enzymes/transporter gene expression by BHA in the mice. The peak plasma concentration of BHA achieved in our current study after oral administration of 200 mg/kg BHA was around $10\;{\mu}M$. This in vivo concentration might offer some insights for the many in vitro cell culture studies on signal transduction and induction of phase II genes using similar concentrations. The oral bioavailability (F) of BHA was about 43% in the mice. In the mouse liver, BHA induced the expression of phase II genes including NQO-1, HO-1, ${\gamma}-GCS$, GST-pi and UGT 1A6, as well as some of the phase III transporter genes, such as MRP1 and Slco1b2. In addition, BHA activated distinct mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK), as well as p38, suggesting that the MAPK pathways may play an important role in early signaling events leading to the regulation of gene expression including phase II drug metabolizing and some phase III drug transporter genes. This is the first study to demonstrate the in vivo pharmacokinetics of BHA, the in vivo activation of MAPK signaling proteins, as well as the in vivo induction of Phase II/III drug metabolizing enzymes/transporters in the mouse livers.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.161-182
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• 2014

As environmental problems such as global warming, and ecocide have a great influence on society, the attention to environmental pollution is being expanded. To solve the environmental problems, the awareness and practice of members of society in question is required. However, it has been found that few people are participating in practising environmental protection in real life. Our main goals are to show that Gamification has great potential in delivering messages for public interest and to suggest guidelines for researchers and public contents developers who engage in designing in relation to Gamification. Based on the domestic and foreign theoretical investigations, we found that Gamification mechanism made based on psychological mechanism of users aims at public interests' value by maximizing motivations of users and spreading social relationships among people. As shown in the case study, if contents are developed by reflecting the elements which stimulate challenging of users, the elements which can express their opinions, and the elements of altruism which form the sympathy in the development of public interest contents in the future, practical participation of people to solve social problems can be expected.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 2002

The Geotextiles have been used for the protection of Geomembrane and the prevention of clogging phenomenon; however, the material can be easily damaged by construction equipments. It generally recommended to use at least $500g/m^2$ of Geotextile in Korea landfill, but few researcher were performed about the damage of Geotextile. Therefore, we intended to evaluate the potential damage of Geotextile by the traffic load simulating the final cover system in a field scale. Tensile strength and strain were appraised to understand the degree of damaged Geotextile. The tests were conducted under the condition of cross direction of Geotextile. Four different weight of Geotextile was used for the evaluation $500g/m^2$, $700g/m^2$, $1,000g/m^2$ and $1,500g/m^2$. The initial strain of $500g/m^2$ of Geotextile showed 50% that did not meet the standard 60%. The strain of $700g/m^2$ of Geotextile was below the standard after the traffic load test; however, the others met the requirement in the test. In conclusion, the weight of Geotextile used in landfill to protect the Geomembrane should be at least $700g/m^2$ in a view of strain requirement. We expect this study provides fundamental information for the construction of Geotextile in landfill.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.343-349
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• 2010

The golden apple snail was introduced to the Korea from Japan as a potential food for people in 1983. It is one of the pests of direct-seeded rice in korea. This study was conducted to investigate rice(Oriza sativa) consumption and the extent of damage by the golden apple snail(Pomacea canaliculata) in direct-sown paddy fields. Food consumption of the golden apple snail was highest at $30^{\circ}C$. When the emergence of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th leave of rice supplied food, the consumption of young(shell height 15mm) and adult golden apple snail(over shell height 30mm) at $30^{\circ}C$ were 19.0/79.8, 11.0/54.5, 5.5/18.5, and 0.0/2.0 individuals, respectively. Young rice seedings(before 5th leaves of rice) are very susceptible to golden apple snail damage because the young, tender leaves and stems favor the snail's feeding habits. The field experiment with four treatments (0, 2, 5 and 10 individuals respectively per 10 $m^2$) was carried out. The most serious yield loss was 16% from the plot with 10 adults released at emergency stage of rice.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.14 no.3 s.38
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• pp.349-361
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• 2006

New directions on rural policy have been discussed due to the domestic and international environmental changes such as the price degradation of agricultural products, maintenance of rural landscape, and so on. Development of amenity in rural areas has been come out as the one of new policy directions. Amenity defines as, in a very broad way, the public benefits accruing from the condition of a place, such as aesthetic beauty, clean air and water, or good street lighting. Amenity in rural area is referred as a resource with a potential possibility for development. Among them rural landscape is regarded as the one of major resources. In Jeju, particularly, stone wall retains the most esthetic landscape in rural regions. In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism appointed stone wall as the one of important components in rural landscape and one of the 100 national historic symbols. Stone wall in Jeju has its intrinsic and real value and is widespread in rural regions. However, in spite of it's popularity, the landscape of stone wall has been degraded without any concerns and has been partly destroyed. Landscape of stonewall should be maintained and the depth of concerns and systematic management measures for protection should be discussed. In this sense, the purpose of this paper, first of all, is to examine the status of stone wall and to evaluate the landscape of stone wall in Jeju. GIS is used as an analysis tool. Several areas such as Hankyung, Namyeup, and so on in Jeju are selected as the case areas for this study.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.223-230
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• 2017

In this study, we evaluated the skin moisturizing effect of Brasenia schreberi (B. schreberi) mucilage polysaccharide on human skin and in vitro and the potent cosmetic ingredient for skin. To protect skin from various environmental stresses and aging, we should increase moisture content of skin and prevent water loss. We have found that polysaccharides extracted from mucilage of B. schreberi improved the roughness of skin with its lubricating behavior. In vitro, the expression of transglutaminase 1 (TGM1) gene, which plays a role in cross-linking the skin barrier, was increased when the keratinocytes were treated with B. schreberi polysaccharides. In addition, the expression of hyaluronan synthase 3 (HAS3) gene, an enzyme that synthesizes water-binding matrix hyaluronic acid, aquaporin 3 (AQP3), which regulates the movement of water and glycerol were also increased. In addition, an experiment to evaluate its potential as a cosmetic ingredient has shown anti-inflammatory and collagen synthesis-promoting effects. As a result, the mucilaginous polysaccharide from natural products which has not existed before, showed moisturizing effect, anti-inflammation and collagen synthesis-promoting effects for skin protection and hydration.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.7-15
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• 2015

Objectives : Rosa laevigata Michx. has been used for the treatment of renal disease in traditional Korean medicine. In this study, we investigated cytoprotective effect of R. laevigata water extract (RLE) against oxidative stress induced by arachidonic acid (AA) + iron.Methods : To evaluate the protective effects of RLE against AA + iron-induced oxidative stress in HepG2 cell, cell viability and changes on apoptosis-related proteins were assessed by MTT and immunoblot analyses. The effects of RLE on reduced glutathione level, production of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential were also monitored. Furthermore, to verify underlying molecular mechanism, NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) was examined by immunoblot analysis. Additionally, Nrf2 transactivation and its downstream target genes expression were also determined by reporter gene and realtime RT-PCR analyses.Results : RLE pretreatment (30-300 μg/ml) prevented cells from AA + iron-mediated cell death in a concentration dependent manner. In addition, 100 μg/ml RLE inhibited AA + iron-induced glutathione depletion, reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial dysfunction. RLE accumulated nuclear Nrf2 and also transactivated Nrf2, which was evidenced by antioxidant response element- and glutathione S-transferase A2-driven luciferase activities and mRNA level of glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 and sestrin 2. Moreover, protective effect of RLE against AA + iron was abolished in Nrf2 knockout cells.Conclusions : These results indicate that RLE has the ability to protect hepatocyte against oxidative stress through Nrf2 activation.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.85-125
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• 2014

This paper explores what we call 'the problem of undone social science' by examining the lack of interests in the social, ethical, and legal issues of synthetic biology among social scientists in Korea. This new field of science, which has emerged in the twenty-first century with the promise of solving future problems of energy, food, and disease in the world, has also created a considerable degree of anxiety over the issues of bioethics, biosafety, and biosecurity. From its beginning, therefore, researchers of synthetic biology in Europe and the U.S. have sought to engage social scientists in their projects. Yet scientists and social scientists in Korea have shown no sign of working together to deal with both potential benefits and risks of synthetic biology. Why this silence? What strategic moves would be needed to overcome the structural barrier for their collaboration? Surveying the diverse methodologies developed during and after ELSI (ethical, legal, social implications) experiments, this paper aims to provide three suggestions that might make possible mutually profitable and continuously stimulating dialogues between the two worlds of science and social science: first, institutionalize the ELSI studies on any newly emerging science and technology of concern; second, explore diverse post-ELSI methodologies experimented elsewhere and develop ones that might be applicable best to the Korean situation; and third and perhaps most important, create an intellectual space and a lawful protection for social scientists to exercise their research freedom at the reasonable level and receive a fair review by their peers, not solely by funding agencies and scientific organizations.